November 10, 2009

Abortion rights group, Senate candidate Kirk spar on vote

A leading abortion rights group delivered a rebuke to Republican U.S. Senate contender Mark Kirk today for supporting an amendment to the House-passed health care reform legislation that would prevent taxpayer-backed insurance policies issued under the plan from providing abortion coverage.

Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said it no longer regards the five-term North Shore congressman “as a moderate, fair-minded supporter of women’s privacy and rights” and that the organization “no longer considers Kirk pro-choice” on abortion.

In response, Kirk’s campaign contended the congressman continues to support abortion rights — except for the use of federal funds to pay for the procedure. His camp also said NARAL had distorted Kirk’s record in his first campaign for congress when the group backed his Democratic opponent.

Kirk has come under fire in recent weeks for moves in which he has moved toward the right in trying to secure the votes of core GOP conservatives for the Feb. 2 U.S. Senate primary. Though several Republicans are in the primary field, conservative opposition has not coalesced around an alternative candidates.

NARAL’s Keenan accused Kirk of moving “to the radical right” and said her group was committed to “defeat Mark Kirk’s Senate campaign.”

NARAL, the former National Abortion Rights Action League, has never previously endorsed Kirk in his bids for Congress. But Elizabeth J. Shipp, the group’s political director, said “since I've been here, we also haven't endorsed anyone against him because he was a moderate pro-choice Republican we thought we could work with.”

Shipp apparently wasn’t around for Kirk’s first congressional race against Democrat Lauren Beth Gash. NARAL put $5,000 into Gash’s campaign and in a flier accused the Republican of wanting to take away a “woman’s right to choose” because he supported a prohibition on federal funding for abortions — the so-called “Hyde Amendment” named after the late west-suburban conservative Congressman Henry Hyde.

"Congressman Kirk is pro-choice and opposes federal funding of abortion. That is the same position he held when he first ran for Congress in 2000 and it hasn't changed,” Kirk campaign spokesman Eric Elk said in a statement in which he also accused NARAL of “misleading partisan smears” in the 2000 contest.

Elk maintained that Kirk is the “reform-minded social moderate and fiscal conservative” that voters in Illinois are seeking in a senator.

Kirk voted for the abortion-restrictive health care amendment, but voted against the overall health care reform bill that passed on the strength of Democratic votes.

NARAL needs to let moderates be part of their group. Even if the definition of "moderate" is an individual that does not support any of the group's values or platform. If they only want to "purify" their group by only letting the most liberal pro-choicers participate, they are never going to gain national prominence.

Oh wait, that argument only applies to the Republicans. Sorry.

Does anyone think NARAL would have endorsed Kirk over any of the Democrats running? NARAL did not base this decision on the Stupak Amendment.

NARAL is partly responsible for this mess. They endorsed Obama over Hillary in the primaries. Hillary would never throw women's rights under the bus as Obama did. I will never support NARAL again. They wanted the MAN in the White House and that's what they got. Now they (and the rest of the country) has to live with it.

And when you vote to prohibit women from using their own money to pay for an abortion, how does that make you "pro-choice?" Smells like a hypocrite to me. Ignominy bleak and dismal would be a good fate for Mark Kirk, but let's hope he suffers during his journey, like the women he would make suffer through an unwanted or unhealthy pregnancy.

All 50 aldermen on the Chicago City Council had to file paperwork earlier this year detailing their outside income and gifts. The Tribune took that ethics paperwork and posted the information here for you to see. You can search by ward number or alderman's last name.

The Cook County Assessor's office has put together lists of projected median property tax bills for all suburban towns and city neighborhoods. We've posted them for you to get a look at who's paying more and who's paying less.

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